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"There is no other city as vulgar and obscene as Osaka. We should celebrate the image and welcome the development of casinos and red-light districts to attract people." - Toru Hashimoto (Mayor of Osaka)
Timelapse by Holger Mette
I shot this timelapse over the course of about a month in the city durring March 2012. Osaka is one of my favourite cities to travel to, to linger in and to savour the flavours. It has a dark seedy side, some of the best food and countless neighbourhoods to explore. Get to the outskirts of the city & you find mountains with forests, streams small temples and resident monkeys.
This is a city that can get under your skin & if you spend some time there the experience will stay with you long after you leave.
Music: Die Acht Sünden by zero-project: www.jamendo.com/en/album/87064
"The eight sins" - while it may seem unusual to include a German track on a time lapse about a Japanese city, I like the combination because in many ways the systematic & orderly manner of the city with its seedy underbelly reminds me much more of Germany than other places. If you look beyond the superficial you see parallels between the two countries in many areas. The lyrics also speak to how I feel about the city on leaving.
Rough translation:
"I will try not to miss you, I want to try to forget you... you are the beauty, the darkness and the chaos ... I am in you and around you, you are the oxygen that I need to live. In my dreams you gave me the vision, that of the sin you are a part. You are a wound that cannot be healed, you are a heart that does not feel. You are a prize for a victor ... you are a sin that makes me into a sinner".